PARIS: French President Francois Hollande called on the United States and Russia to join forces to destroy the self-styled Islamic State group in the wake of Friday’s attacks across Paris, and announced a wave of measures to combat terror in France.

In a sombre speech to both houses of parliament after the coordinated suicide bombings and shootings that killed at least 129 people, Hollande said he would increase funds for national security, strengthen anti-terror laws and boost border controls.

“France is at war. But we’re not engaged in a war of civilisations, because these assassins do not represent any. We are in a war against jihadist terrorism which is threatening the whole world,” he told a pac­ked chamber at the gilded Ver­sa­illes Palace on Monday.

Also read: US had no 'specific' intelligence on Paris attacks: Obama

Parliamentarians gave Hollande a standing ovation before singing the national anthem in a signal of political unity following the atrocity.

The self-styled Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying they were in retaliation for French air strikes in Iraq and Syria over the past year.

Hollande said French forces would intensify assaults and said he would meet US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the coming days to urge them to pool their resources.

“We must combine our forces to achieve a result that is already too late in coming,” Hollande said.

A US-led coalition has been bombing Islamic State for more than a year. Russia joined the conflict in September, but US officials say it has mainly hit foreign-backed fighters battling its ally President Bashar al Assad, not Islamic State.

Speaking in Turkey at the same time as Hollande, Obama called Fri­day’s attacks a “terrible and sickening setback”, but insisted the US-led coalition was making progress.

“Even as we grieve with our French friends... we can’t lose sight that progress is being made,” Obama said at a Group of 20 summit.

Much of France came to a standstill at midday for a minute’s silence to remember the dead. Metro trains stopped, pedestrians paused on pavements and office workers stood at their desks.

Investigators have identified a Belgian national living in Syria as the possible mastermind behind the attacks, which targeted bars, restaurants, a concert hall and soccer stadium, with Brussels seen as the springboard.

“Friday’s act of war was decided upon and planned in Syria, prepared and organised in Belgium and carried out on our territory with the complicit of French citizens,” Hollande said.

Prosecutors have identified five of the seven dead assailants -- four Frenchmen and a foreigner fingerprinted in Greece last month. His role in the carnage has fuelled speculation that Islamic State took advantage of a recent wave of refugees fleeing Syria to slip militants into Europe.

Police believe one attacker is on the run, and suspect at least four people helped organise the mayhem. “We know that more attacks are being prepared, not just against France but also against other European countries,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told RTL radio. “We are going to live with this terrorist threat for a long time.”

The IS warned in a video on Monday that any country hitting it would suffer the same fate as Paris, promising specifically to target Washington.

French warplanes bombed the outfit’s training camps and a suspected arms depot in its Syrian stronghold Raqqa late on Sunday -- its biggest such strike since the US-led mission launched last year.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters police had arrested at least 25 people and seized arms, including a rocket launcher and automatic weapons, in 168 raids overnight.

“Let this be clear to everyone, this is just the beginning, these actions are going to continue,” Cazeneuve said.

Hollande said he would create 5,000 jobs in the police and security forces, and boost staff in the prison service by 2,500. He also said there would be no cuts to defence spending. He acknowledged this would break EU budget rules, but said that national security was more important.

THE ‘MASTERMIND’: A source close to the investigation said Belgian national Abdelhamid Abaaoud, currently in Syria, was suspected of having ordered the Paris operation. “He appears to be the brains behind several planned attacks in Europe,” the source said.

RTL Radio said Abaaoud was a 27-year-old from Molenbeek. He was also reported by media to have been involved in a series of planned attacks in Belgium which were foiled by the police in January.

Police in Brussels have detained two suspects and are hunting Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old Frenchman based in Belgium. One of his brothers died in the Paris assault, while a third brother was arrested at the weekend but later released.

Schools, museums and the Eiffel Tower reopened in Paris on Monday after a 48-hour shutdown, but some popular tourist sites, including Disneyland, remained closed.

French tourism-related stocks fell sharply on fears visitors might shun Paris, one of the most visited cities in the world, but the country’s blue-chip CAC 40 index was steady, with no long-term economic impact seen.

Police have named two French attackers -- Ismael Omar Mostefai, 29, from Chartres, southwest of Paris, and Samy Amimour, 28, from the Paris suburb of Drancy. A source close to the investigation named two other French assailants as Bilal Hadfi and Ibrahim Abdeslam.

France now believes Mostefai was in Syria from 2013-2014 and his radicalisation underlined the trouble France faces trying to capture an illusive enemy that grew up in its own cities.

“He was a normal man,” said Christophe, his neighbour in Chartres. “Nothing made you think he would turn violent.”

Latest official figures estimate that 520 French nationals are in the Syrian and Iraqi war zones, including 116 women. Some 137 have died in the fighting, 250 have returned home and around 700 have plans to travel to join militant factions.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2015